The Relationship Between Religious Attitudes and Academic Motivation of Nursing and Midwifery Students: a Descriptive-Analytical Study

Shiraz E-Med J. 2020 October; 21(10):e95005. doi: 10.5812/semj.95005.

Published online 2020 April 21. Brief Report

The Relationship Between Religious Attitudes and Academic Motivation of Nursing and Midwifery Students: A Descriptive-Analytical Study

Naval Heydari 1, Roksana Janghorban 2 and Marzieh Akbarzadeh 3, *

1Student Research Committee, Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 2Department of Midwifery, Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran 3Department of Midwifery, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

*Corresponding author: Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Maternal-Fetal Medicine Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Email: [email protected] Received 2019 June 06; Revised 2019 November 14; Accepted 2019 December 25.

Abstract

Religious attitude is one of the factors affecting mental health; thus, considering motivation as a psychological factor, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between religious attitudes and academic motivation of nursing and midwifery students. This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 139 nursing and midwifery students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences who were selected randomly in 2016. The questionnaire consisted of 3 parts of demographic data, religious attitude questionnaire of religion attitude scale-review (RAS-R), and academic motivation adopted from the questionnaire developed by Hermens. The mean score of the students’ academic achievement motivation was 83.56 ± 8.29, and that of religious attitude was 97.2 ± 15.5. The relationship between the total score of the student’s academic motivation and religious attitudes based on the Pearson correlation coefficient test was significant, with P < 0.001 at a significance level of 0.01. Based on the linear regression test, also the relationship between the two variables at a significance level of ≤ 0.05 was significant with P < 0.001, r = 0.412, and r2 = 0.164. So, a positive relationship was observed between religious attitudes and academic achievement motivation in students.

Keywords: Religious, Attitude, Academic, Motivation, Student

1. Background tion are comprised of internal motivation, external motivation, and lack of motivation; also, academic motivation has this multi-dimensional nature (6). There are many in- One of the main goals of clinical education is the devel- dividual motivational factors for students, which should opment of knowledge and skills of students (1). To achieve be found out and strengthened by educators to achieve these two goals and high-quality education, attention to better learning (3). Motivation is a psychological factor academic achievement motivation is important because (2). The studies in recent decades have pointed to the pos- students who do not have enough motivation are not ready itive role of religion in mental health. Religious beliefs in- enough to learn (2). Changes in nursing students’ learn- crease the resistance of people against disasters, maintain ing motivation are a challenge for nursing instructors that physical and mental health, prevent diseases, and increase can affect the survival of the students in this field and hope (7). Religion even improves the quality of life, hope their academic achievement (3). Intelligence is not the for others, and social relations (8). One of the most impor- only determinant of academic achievement in nursing stu- tant outcomes of the educational system for the individual dents, and a key determinant of academic achievement is and community is academic achievement. Identification the motivation (1). Nowadays, particular attention to the of effective components provides appropriate conditions mental-training structures such as motivation is growing, for educating literate and creative individuals, especially and a large number of studies show that motivational be- in medical sciences, because we need to favorably train ex- liefs cause academic achievement (4). Academic motiva- perienced human resources through spending many ex- tion is an internal process that stimulates the activity aim- penses to supply medical and health care (9). Owing to the ing at achieving educational achievement (5). Based on role of spirituality on academic achievement (10) and the self-determination theory, 3 critical constructs of motiva-

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positive role of religion on mental health (7). a 5-point Likert scale, so the total scores ranged from 25 to 125. According to this scale, individuals who have received a score more than or equal to 100 have high religious atti- 2. Objectives tudes; people with a score between 51 and 99 have moder- Its impact on motivation as a psychological factor, the ate religious attitudes, and those with a score less than or researchers of this study aimed to investigate the relation- equal to 50 have low religious attitudes (12). ship between religious attitudes and achievement motiva- To investigate academic motivation, Hermans Achieve- tion in nursing and midwifery students; in the case of a ment Motivation test was used. This questionnaire in- positive relationship between these two factors, it can be cludes 29 questions and has been prepared based on 10 fea- said that educational achievement motivation can be im- tures that distinguish those with high achievement mo- proved by strengthening religious attitudes. Hence, it will tivation from people with low achievement motivation. be considered a positive step in the field of clinical train- Scoring strategy is based on the Likert scale, and the score ing. range is between 29 and 116. High scores indicate high motivation. Content validity was used, which was based on previous research conducted on achievement motiva- 3. Methods tion. The correlation coefficient of each question has been This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on calculated by development-oriented behavior. The ques- nursing and midwifery students in semesters 5 to 8 who tionnaire’s coefficients ranged from 0.30 to 0.57. Based were studying at the school of nursing and midwifery in on Cronbach’s alpha, the reliability coefficient was 0.84. Shiraz in 2016. Based on the study by Mozaffari Makki Abadi Based on test-retest in the original study it was 0.84 (13). et al. (11), we used the following formula and parameters. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation, Pearson correlation 2 Z + Z1− β N = 1− α/2 + 3 coefficient, linear regression, and independent t-test were C2 used. The significance level was less than 0.05.

1 + r C = 1/2Ln 3.1. Ethical Considerations 1 − r The Ethics Committee of Shiraz University of Med- r = 0.32, 0.05 = α, 1-β = 0.9 the sample size was esti- ical Sciences approved the study protocol (ethic code: mated to be 98 people with 20% loss. IR.SUMS.REC.1395.S101, proposal no.: 94-10543). Written in- Although 120 were estimated, 139 were sampled in this formed consent was obtained from all the participants. study, given that a whole sample class was to be obtained.A The confidentiality of all participants’ personal informa- simple random sampling method was used by selecting tion was assured. Furthermore, they were allowed to with- the students from the class list via a random digits table. In- draw from the study at any time. clusion criteria were studying in semester 5 to 8 of nursing and midwifery. Owing to the observed decrease in the students’ academic motivation in higher semesters, and lack 4. Results of willingness to participate in the study was the exclusion criterion. After sampling, the questionnaires were com- A total number of 139 students who had entered the pleted by the subjects. Data collection tool included three university between 2011 and 2014 were enrolled in this parts; the demographic section was included, variables study. The mean age of the students was 22.8 ± 1.8. Fifty- such as age, gender, and marital status were searched. seven participants (41%) were midwifery students, and 82 To investigate religious attitudes, we used the RAS-R Re- participants (59%) were nursing students. Out of them, 108 ligious Attitude questionnaire. It included 25 questions (77.7%) were female, and 98 participants (70.5%) were sin- in 6 areas related to religious attitudes that included wor- gle. Moreover, 111 students (79.9%) were interested in their ship, morals and behavior, effect of religion on life and be- field of study. The mean scores of the students’ achieve- havior, social issues, science and religion, worldview, and ment motivation and religious attitudes were 83.56 ± 8.29 beliefs. The correlation of each item score, with the to- and 97.2 ± 15.5, respectively. Based on Pearson, correlation tal score of the questionnaire, was valid at the level of coefficient test, the relationship between total scores of 0.0001. The reliability of the questionnaire through two achievement motivation and religious attitudes was signif- methods of Spearman-Brown and Guttman achieved, re- icant at the level less than 0.01 and P < 0.001 and based on spectively, was 0.948 and 0.933. Cronbach’s alpha coeffi- linear regression test, the relationship between these two cient was equal to 0.954. Each item was scored based on variables was significant (P < 0.001, r = 0.412 and r2 = 0.164).

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The comparison of the mean scores of religious attitudes of them choose it due to extrinsic motivations such as job and achievement motivation shows that the mean score security and high income (17), but most studies consider of academic motivation in midwifery students is signifi- intrinsic motivations more significant than other factors cantly more than the score achieved by nursing students; in increasing learning outcomes and improving students’ however, there was no significant difference between these performance (3). A study conducted on 105 psychology res- two fields in terms of religious attitudes (Table 1). idents in Toronto also showed a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and lifelong learning (18). Table 1. Comparison of the Mean Scores of Religious Attitudes and academic Moti- On the other hand, religious attitude can be consid- vation Among Nursing and Midwifery Students ered an intrinsic motivation. In the present study, it Field Academic Motivation Religious Attitude P Valuea was concluded that the more religious people had higher

Midwifery 86.17 ± 9.47 99.66 ± 16.34 < 0.001 achievement motivation, and the relationship between these two variables was significant. A study conducted Nursing 81.75 ± 6.87 97.58 ± 14.98 < 0.001 on 158 African-American adolescents in America showed P valueb 0.002 0.733 that adolescents who paid less attention to religion were aPaired t-test was used. exposed to less academic performance (19). In a study bIndependent t-test was used. in Indian college students, the academic achievement of Hindu students was correlated with their religious atti- Based on the data collected, 1 student (0.7%) had a low tudes (20). Another study in Iran showed a significant pos- religious attitudes, 73 students (52.5%) had moderate reli- itive relationship between academic achievement and the gious attitudes, and 65 students (46.8%) had high religious spiritual well-being of economics, management, and hu- attitudes. Based on regression analysis, variables such as manities students (21). Also, in Medical Students of Qom, age, sex, field of study, family income, marital status, field a significant relationship was observed between spiritual of education, guaranteed future work, low willingness in health and academic grade point average (14). A research the field of study with academic achievement was assessed. carried out on 683 rural adolescents showed that people Thus, only the field of study had a significant effect on aca- who considered religion an important asset in their life demic motivation, and there was a statistically significant were highly motivated, and those with higher religious relationship (P = 0.005). attitudes received higher scores (22). Another research on African-American and European-American college stu- 5. Discussion dents showed a correlation between spiritual beliefs, religious participation, and academic performance (23). Sev- According to the findings of the current study, the ma- eral studies have strongly indicated that religiosity and re- jority of students had moderate and high religious atti- ligious participation and performance are in connection tudes. A study on Qom medical students showed that the with education and training outcomes (24). Therefore, majority of them had desirable spiritual health (14). The improving religious attitudes can increase the students’ comparison of the mean score of achievement motivation achievement motivation and, ultimately, their academic between midwifery and nursing students indicated less achievement. However, further studies are suggested to motivation for nursing students compared to midwifery investigate the causes of this relationship and how to use ones. Rose states that the decline in achievement motiva- religion to promote achievement motivation. Some of tion in nursing students and their uncertainty and unwill- the limitations of this study were restriction of the re- ingness to be recruited is one of the problems of this field search population to higher semester students, lower sam- (3). ple size, and disregarding the influence of other factors The most important category, which encourages peo- on the study outcomes such as demographic variables. ple to perform a task or activity,is intrinsic motivation, and Thus, given these limitations, further studies in nursing motivation should be changed to intrinsic one to achieve and midwifery and other fields of medical sciences stu- better performance (1). Studies consider intrinsic moti- dents are suggested to be conducted. vations such as interest, excitement, trust, high performance, perseverance, creativity, and confidence as cate- 5.1. Conclusions gories to improve the learning outcomes (15). Based on In the present study, the majority of students had mod- studies, there is a relationship between intrinsic motiva- erate and high religious attitudes. Nursing students had tion and students’ score and rank (3). According to a re- less academic achievement motivation, and a positive rela- search, nursing students chose this field because of intrin- tionship was observed between religious attitudes and aca- sic motivations such as philanthropy (16); however, some demic achievement motivation in students.

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